Healthy soil workshop slated July 30 in Sycamore

Friday, July 26, 2013 1:00 PM

SYCAMORE, Ill. — A workshop, “Building Healthy Soil: Why
organic matter is the most important indicator of soil health and what is being
done to build it up,” is planned from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, July 30, at
the DeKalb County Farm Bureau Center for Agriculture, 1350 West Prairie Dr.,
Sycamore.

Attendees will be shown how to prevent nutrients from
leaching into waterways while building soil fertility.

University of Illinois researchers Richard Mulvaney and
Saeed Kahn, who co-authored 2007 and 2009 papers about soil carbon and organic
matter losses caused by manmade nitrogen, will discuss their findings. Their
work on America’s oldest testing field and 120 others worldwide underlie their
conclusion that “half a century after the onset of input-intensive agriculture,
many of the world’s most productive soils have been degraded” and “the
prevailing system…does not provide the means to intensify food and fiber
production without degrading the soil resource.”

Last year’s drought and this year’s heavy rains have loaded
the Mississippi River with possibly more unused nitrogen and phosphorus than
ever before.

“Over a month ago I was talking with a Corn Growers
Association district leader located along the Mississippi. He and his peers
think if a massive algae bloom two or three times bigger than normal does occur
in the Gulf of Mexico, that could very well lead to new nitrogen and phosphorus
restrictions being imposed,” said Matt Van Slyke, organizer of the event.

Ocean experts predicted a large dead zone area in the Gulf
of Mexico this year. According to results released recently by a Texas A&M
University researcher just back from studying the region, those predictions
appear to be right on target.

An AgriEnergy Resources agronomist and a microbiologist will
give reasons for using live microbial inputs, which they said has led to
county-leading yields for customers using 100 pounds or less of synthetic
nitrogen per acre. On AgriEnergy’s research farm in Princeton, following a
crimson clover cover crop in 2008, they grew 211-bushel corn with no added
nitrogen.

Another speaker, agronomist Ron Althoff, who graduated from
Southern Illinois University with a bachelor’s degree in soil science in 1969,
will present “Matching Cover Crops to Your Farm Needs.”

Pre-registrations are required by July 28 and can be made by
phoning (815) 756-3236, extension 3, or emailing dean.johnson@il.nacdnet.net.